Vitamin body and method of preparing the same



Patented Apr. 1, 1924.

UNITED STATES ISAAC F. HARRIS, OF TUOKAHOE'NEW YORK.

VITAMIN BODY AND METHOD '0]? PREPARING THE SAME.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ISAAC F. HARRIS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Tuckahoe, Westchester County, State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Vitamin Bodies and Methods of Preparing the Same, ofwhich the following is a specification. v a v My invention'relates to vitamin bodies and methods of preparing the same, more particularl from such substances as'yeast, for examp e from the living cells of yeast of the variety of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It, is an object of the present invention to obtainsuch vitamin bodies in a highly concentrated, stable form, substantially free from deleterious substances and diluents, and also to devise a simple, economical, and

' ex editious method of obtaining such vitamin bodies in such desirable form. I

- By way of example, I shall describe in the accompanying specification illustrative embodiments of the method and of'the product of my invention, it being. understood that said embodiments are herein set forth in-detail merely for purposes of example and illustration, and that the invention is not limitedto such illustrative embodiments.

As my starting material I prefer to use yeast,- more particularly living yeast cells, of the variety Saccharomyces cerevisiee, obtained, for example, from the fermentation of beer. 'I find that by using this material I am enabled to obtain vitamin.

as bodies in highly concentrated and stable by-products and diluents. I first wash the living yeast cells with water to remove the beer or otherfluid in -which the" yeast was grown. This may readil be done without removing any of these uble vitamin bodies, since the living yeast cells are so' combined with one another that the cells may be washed with water Without losing any of their internal soluble constituents. a a -'l[ then plunge the living yeast cells into boiling, acidified water. This results in immediately killing the yeast cells without an emitting the formation of certain harm-' ul by-products which would-be formed if the cells were permitted to degenerate and die by themselves The result of thus immediately killing the yeast is to preventthose forms, substantially free from deleterious- Application filed December 26, 1919. Serial No. 347,503.

changes from taking place which would otherwise occur in dead yeast cells which have not been exposed to a high temperature.

If the cells are not instantly killed, autoly sis occurs, with the result that ,the enzymes ,or ferments present in the cells convert the contaminated vitamin bodies. After the yeast has been boiled as above set forth, the insoluble substances remaining undissolved in the acidified water. and including the coagulated albumins, are removed by filtration. The filtrate'is then reduced to dryness in a vacuum and at a low temperature,-to thereby minimize decom-- position of the dissolved vitamin bodies. By thus evaporating the solution, which contains substantially all of the vitamin bodies dissolved, there is obtained a gummy,

semisolid mass. This gummy, semi-solid mass, whlch has been derived as above set forth, is now exmass referredto. Preferably I employ an vtracted with a solvent capable of selectively dissolving the vitamin constituents of the aqueous solution of ethyl'alcohol, containing from about fifty to about sixty per cent, preferably about fifty-two per cent, of ethyl alcohol. This'solution readily dissolves out substantially all of the vitamin?' bodies present in the gummy mass.

The whole is then filtered, and the filtrate -will befound .to contain substantially all of the original vitamin content of the yeast" inc cells. The filtrate is now reduced to dryness at a low'temperature and under a vacuum to minimize decomposition and the formation of undesirable by-products. This product is further extracted with eighty to ninety per cent ethyl alcohol, and filtered.

The precipitate which is insoluble in eightyto ninety per cent alcohol is now dehydrated in an suitable manner, preferably by such dehy ratin chemicals as anhydrous ethyl alcohol, an ydrous acetone and anh drous' ether. These dehydrating agents, i used, are removed preferably at a low temperature, in a vacuum, whereby a brownish to light yellow mass remains, which can be quickl reduced to a dry powder, under suitab e precautions against atmospheric moisture. The product thus derived may be used in the form in which it is thus obtained and will be found to be a highly concentrated vitamin substance, possessing a hi h degree of vitamin activity, and comprising a light yellowish-brown powder, which is very hygroscopic and has an odor and taste similar to the extract of beef.

This powder is readil soluble in cold water, producing a perfect? clear solution, and is still more readily soluble in hot water. The substance is freely soluble in eth 1 alcohol of a strength of about 52%, but is less soluble in e per cent, an is substantially insoluble in color, according to increasing concentration of'the solution in dissolved vitamin substance. Such a ueous solutions possess a taste similar to t e taste of extract of beef, and have other properties analogous to those possessed by a mixture of peptones, propeptones and amino-acids.

The vitamin body described above is substantially free from coagulable proteins, and gives reactions indicating the presence of amino groups, but does not however give the biuret reaction. Solutions of such vitamin bodies give copious precipitates with hospho-tungstic acid, which, however, oes not precipitate everything from the, solution. Aqueous solutions of such vitamin bodies are also partly precipitated by solutions of barium hydroxide, silver nitrate, mercuric chloride and lead acetate. The dry powder, when burned, leaves about twelve to fifteen per cent by weight of ash.

The high degree of vitamin activity of the foregoing vitamin substance can readily be demonstrated by feeding it to caged animals which were previously fed, forseveral days upon a diet containing an insuflicient uantity of water-soluble vitamins, name y, a diet made up of such substancesas cane sugar, starch, casein, lard, and a suitable mixture of mineral salts.

The recovery of such animals is remarkably rapid, and indicates that the vitamin substance described above is of very great concentration.

What I claim is:

1. A method of derivin a vitamin body from living yeast cells'w ich comprises the step of quickly killing. the yeast cells by hgl alcohol stronger than eighty boiling the same in water acidified with from about three-quarters to about one and one-half per cent of acetic acid.

2. A method of deriving a vitamin body from yeast cells which comprises boiling said cells with Water acidified with about one per-cent of acetic acid, filtering, drying the filtrate in vacuo and at a low tempera ture, thereafter extracting the dried product with an aqueous solution of ethyl alcohol of about fifty-two per cent strength, filtering, and thereafter reducing the filtrate to dryness.

3. A method of deriving a vitamin body from yeast which comprises the steps of treating the dried mass resulting from evaporating an aqueous, substantially protein-freesolution of 1 said vitamin body with a solvent containing ethyl alcohol, filtering the resulting solution, and thereafter reducing the same to dryness under a vacuum and at a low temperature, further treating the dried mass with ethyl alcohol and drying the precipitate obtained thereby, to thereby minimize the decomposition of the vitamin body.

4. A method of deriving a vitamin body from yeast which comprises the steps of treating the dried mass resulting from evaporating an aqueous, substantiall protein-free' solution of said vitamin body with ethyl alcohol of a concentration of from fifty-two per cent to sixty per cent, filtering said solution, reducing the filtrate obtained thereby to dryness, treating said dried mass with ethyl alcohol of a concentration of from eighty to ninety per cent, filtering said solution and reducing the precipitate thereby obtained to dryness.

5. A method of deriving a concentrated, water-soluble vitamin body from yeast which comprises the steps of evaporating an evaporating an aqueous, substantia y protein-free solution of said vitamin bod with a solvent containing ethyl alcohol, fi tering the resulting solutionfand thereafter reducing the same to dryness under a vacuum and at a low temperature, to thereby minimize the decomposition of the vitamin y. ,i

' 7.-A- method of deriving a vitamin body from yeast which'comprises the steps mosmo of treating the driefl s mum from.

evaporating an aqueous, substantial 5y pro min-free solution of said vitamin with an aqueous solution of ethyl alcohol 5 of from about fifty to about sixty per cent strength, filtering the resulting solution and thereafter reducing the same to oiryness unoisr u vacuum and at a, low temperature, to thereby minimize the dBCOIIlPOSliSiOD of the vitamin body. I

In ibestimony Whoi'oof, I have signed, my name \to this spscifioation this 24th day of December, 1919.

ISAAC F. HARRIS. 

